Critical Condition:
"Close your eyes, and focus on something peaceful," said T'lan, as he joined hands with Penny.
Maureen, ever aware of protocol, had sent Will and Brina below, believing that even this form of intimacy was a private and personal affair. She would have left as well had she not been worried how Penny would handle the encounter. Her youngest daughter was about to open her heart and mind to the young man beside her.
When her husband's thoughts first touched her mind, Maureen had experienced a peace that she had never known. As the layers of their thoughts intertwined, she found herself caught in a wave of fervor and desire, as she drank in John's deep intense love for her. The experience had been stronger and more stimulating than the height of passion in their most intimate physical encounter. Jarrock had told them the deep feelings they shared were unusually strong. But John had always been her first love. And she was sure that T'lan was Penny's.
...
As they met in their minds, T'lan and Penny found themselves at the dinner party a few nights ago.
I wondered if you were going to bring us back to this place, he said, in their thoughts.
This place was comfortable for me, T'lan. This is where you kissed me for the first time.
As Penny remember her confusion, she felt T'lan's gentle strength and temperament comforting her. She had never known such serenity and all of her confusion over the past few days faded away as she allowed herself to be taken by his love.
Penny held back nothing from him, from her initial fear of the Jupiter 2 mission, the heart retching fear of losing her parents outside the ship, her uncontrollable dread over the robitoid, to her unshakable belief in the alien that was battling Keema. All of her dreams, fears, memories, secrets, she revealed willingly to the young man she now knew that she was in love with.
T'lan also openly shared his life with her. He shared his fear as a child of not being worthy of his father, the deep sense of loss and grief when he lost Lyria, his first love, in a Macktu attack, and the pain and loneliness and the depression that overcame him, after her death. He also shared the fear of what would become of him, now that he had dishonored his family.
Listen to me T'lan, this is necessary, to save my family, and your people. Our parents will understand.
I am not in fear of our parents, Penny. I know they will understand. My father will have to step down from the council and our family will be banished from the village.
They would do this even if we are doing this to save all of their lives, T'lan? I can't believe that your people would be so cruel.
It is not a matter of being cruel, Penny. It is a very strong respect for our traditions. My father will step down willingly and the exile will be self imposed.
My parents will think of something, T'lan. Your family can always stay with us.
We shall see what comes to pass.
Penny and T'lan found their peace with the situation and began to concentrate on the device that Tyler had planted nearby. With T'lan's guidance, Penny could soon see and describe the object.
It's a small box, with a digital timer, T'lan. Protruding out of the box is a long tube with an atomizer at the end. The timer was counting down from twenty four hours.
Can you see the sun, Penny?
Yes, it's still a ways above the tree line to the west and if I look to the south, I see the spaceship! T'lan! I know where it is. But we have to hurry!
T'lan and Penny opened their eyes. For a moment they took in the image of each other and Penny reached to touch his face.
"We have to hurry," she said.
"Penny, T'lan, are you all right?" asked Maureen.
T'lan quickly recovered, "Yes, Mrs. Robinson, we are fine. But, as Penny said, we must hurry. We don't have much time."
Maureen had brought a containment box up from the lab and T'lan reached to grab it. The three of them exited the ship and Penny led the way to where she was sure the device had been planted.
...
As Tyler moved his weapon to take aim at Judy, the cave became a flurry of movement. Knowing she was the target Judy dove to the ground, while Smith yelled and dodged towards Tyler. As the nefarious Lt. Colonel pulled the trigger, Don had stepped into his line of fire.
The gunshot was echoing through the cave when Smith had reached Tyler. As they fought, the gun was wedged between them and they both struggled to wrestle it free. In the ensuing mêlée, the firearm discharged a second time.
To Smith's surprise, Tyler suddenly stopped his thrashing and the life seemed to drain from his face. When Smith stood he could see that the weapon had been aimed at Tyler's mid section. In a scant few seconds, Tyler was dead. It was over.
"Miss Judy, are you hurt?" asked Smith.
"No, I'm all right," she answered, standing up and hurrying to her fiancé's side. "Don?"
Smith looked to Major West who had just stood up next to him. He was holding his abdomen and Smith could see him begin to pale. Blood was trickling between his fingers.
"Major! You've been hit!" he said.
"It's a scratch. I'll be…"
West never had a chance to finish his sentence before he fell back to the ground.
"Don!" cried Judy, as she rushed to his side.
"Let's get him onto his back so I can examine the wound," said Smith.
While Smith examined the gunshot, Judy started taking his vitals.
"Pulse is eighty five and thready," she said. "Respiration is twelve."
"He's losing too much blood. We have to staunch the bleeding, or he'll go into shock," said Smith.
Tearing a piece of cloth to use as a pressure bandage, Smith placed it over the wound.
"I want you to apply pressure here," he told her. "I'm going to the chariot for the first aid and the lab kit."
...
Outside the cave, Professor Robinson had just touched down. He was removing the jet pack when Smith came running out of the cave.
"Smith! What the hell is going on! And where is my daughter?"
"She is attending to Major West. He has suffered a gunshot wound," said Smith as he pulled the two boxes out of the vehicle.
"Tyler?" asked Robinson.
"Dead, Professor," said Smith. "Can you help me with this?"
The two men quickly returned to the cave as the Professor informed Smith of the situation at the camp. When they arrived in the chamber, Smith knelt down next to West and began to unpack the med kit. He handed the sphygmomanometer to Judy.
While she checked his blood pressure, Smith cut the Major's clothes away from the wound.
"Blood pressure is one ten over sixty," she said. Judy had some red marks and scratches around her neck where Tyler had choked her.
"Judy! You've been hurt as well," said her father.
"I'll be all right, Dad. It's Don I'm worried about."
"Let's roll him on his side while I check for an exit wound," interjected Smith. "On three, one, two, three."
Smith cut away the rest of Don's garment that had been blood stained to get a clear view of his back. Looking him over carefully, Smith only found the single wound in his abdomen. Smith assumed that the bullet had been a low velocity safety shell, as a larger or more powerful load would have exited his body.
"I don't see an exit wound, the bullet must still be inside," he said.
They rolled him onto his back and Smith opened a bottle of disinfectant. Removing the crude cloth bandage, he liberally poured the contents over the wound. He then set to applying a clean pressure bandage to the area.
"Professor Robinson, We'll need the stretcher from the chariot."
"All right," said John.
"Miss Judy, I need you to keep a watch on his vital signs and make sure the bandage doesn't come lose. I'm going to make sure that Tyler isn't infectious."
"What do you mean?"
"He was carrying a vial of Ebola virus. If it was damaged we've all been exposed."
"Ebola, oh my God!" she said.
Smith opened the lab kit and grabbed a sampling package. Quickly, he swabbed a sample of blood from Tyler's nose and placed it on the slide. He set it aside and set up the portable electron microscope. By this time, John had returned.
"Doctor Smith, is he contagious?"
"I'm just getting ready to check his blood."
Looking at the slide, Smith found no evidence of the Ebola virus, or any other kind of virus, for that matter, but there was evidence of cellular degradation. That is very peculiar.
"Professor, I need another opinion. Would you have a look at this?"
As Robinson examined the slide, Smith checked Tyler's pockets for the vial of Ebola. He found a small protective case that housed the glass vial.
"The container is undamaged," said Smith.
"This looks like radiation sickness, Doctor Smith," said Robinson. "The Robot checked him for radioactive contamination. I wonder if the damage was caused by time distortion."
"An interesting hypothesis, Professor," said Smith.
"Doctor Smith, his blood pressure is dropping," said Judy.
"We must get him back to the ship, and soon," said Smith. "But first, we have to stop at the crash site of his space pod. He has a small supply of the antidote for the virus."
"You're right, Smith. With Tyler dead, we'll never find that device he planted."
While Judy packed the lab and med kits, John and Smith carried the Major out to the chariot. Smith returned to the cave to help Judy as Robinson stowed the jetpack for the trip back.
"Is he going to be all right, Doctor Smith?" she asked as they hauled the gear outside.
"He has internal bleeding, Miss Judy. When we get back to the ship, I'm going to have to operate. I'll need help from both you and your mother."
"All right," she said. "I'll be ready."
To Smith's surprise, Judy seemed to be handling the situation well. He wasn't going to tell her that Major West's prognosis for recovery was not good, and the longer it took them to get back to the ship, the less likely it was that he would survive.
Smith helped her into the chariot and handed up the equipment. John started the engine and pushed the vehicle for all it was worth.
...
Penny led T'lan and her mother to a small outcropping of rocks in the field behind the Jupiter 2. As it appeared in her vision, the device was tucked into a small crevasse in the rock formation.
Maureen carefully examined the device, noting they had about ten minutes before it was set to release its cargo of doom. She placed the unit into the containment chamber and sealed the latches. The containment unit had a glove like attachment on one side allowing a person to manipulate the contents of the chamber without risking exposure.
After several attempts, Maureen was able to disarm the timer.
"There," she said. "Once we get this back to the safety of the ship, we can defuse it in the vacuum chamber."
She looked to her daughter and her boyfriend, "Are you sure that you two are okay?"
"We're fine now, Mom. Thank you for trusting us," said Penny.
"I'll carry the unit back to the ship for you, Mrs. Robinson," said T'lan.
"Thank you."
Maureen looked up at the young man that she knew was destined to marry Penny, and smiled. I'm not losing another daughter, I'm gaining another son. Now, if I can only convince John.